Ages of Apocalypse and Magik
by hersheyman
Summary: Post Season 1- The future is still a dark place, thanks to Apocalypse and Mister Sinister.  Professor Xavier tells Wolverine to prevent this future by enlisting the aid of Illyana Rasputin, Magik.  Review.
1. Chapter 1

"The world is little different than it was before."

The tall mutant, Bishop, surveyed the destroyed landscape of what had once been a major metropolitan city.

"With one difference." the living legend at his side said, holding three fingers to his temples. "Here there are people. They may be fewer in number, but this is not a world run by machines."

"So we have a better chance to rebuild than we did before."

"Not only that." Charles Xavier said. He looked at the cerebro device he carried, the one that had allowed him to communicate with the X-Men in the past and avert the future where sentinels ruled the world.

"Where there are people, there is history."/

_20 Years Earlier_

"Watch out, Bobby!"

The laser beam cut though the ice platform the X-Man had been using to raise himself, shattering it and sending him falling twenty feet unceremoniously.

The laser's follow-up shot was cut short by a red blast, originating from the visor of the mutant known as Cyclops.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Shadowcat, that in combat we use our codenames? Get yourself up, Iceman!"

"Yes, sir!" Iceman extended his hand, forming a barrier of ice in front of him.

"Nice move." Shadowcat said, phasing through the ice. "How are you supposed to see what's going on?"

The ice shield exploded and Shadowcat grabbed iceman, phasing them both through the debris.

"Thanks." he said.

"It's times like this I miss Colossus. We could use him as a shield and he could throw me at the guns."

"We've got to retreat!" Cyclops yelled. "Nightcrawler, distract them! Buy us some time!"

The furry German X-Man began teleporting in front of each gun for between a quarter of a second and a half a second each, however long it took to get them to reprioritize him as their primarily target and make an aim adjustment accordingly.

"Iceman," Cyclops commanded, "we need some heavy spears."

"What good'll that do?" Iceman demanded. "We've got no one who can throw them!"

Cyclops turned to Marvel Girl, who nodded. "Sure we do."

"All right then."

Iceman began forming each spear-razor sharp, seven feet long, and four inches thick at the middle. Instead of falling to the ground, each spear wobbled in midair, then turned towards another laser cannon, directed by the telekinetic powers of Marvel girl.

"That's enough Nightcrawler!" Cyclops shouted when Iceman had made one spear for each laser cannon. The blue elf teleported away from the barrage he had attracted and back to the group.

"Now!"

At Cyclops' command Marvel girl opened her outstretched hands, launching each spear at the lasers so fast that they were a blur. The explosions as each laser cannon was struck were perhaps less impressive than the X-Men had learned to grow accustomed to in their many battles, but they were satisfying nonetheless.

"Yes!" Iceman exclaimed. "'Another Danger Room session bites the dust."

"And without any help from Wolverine." Marvel Girl said, taking off her mask to reveal the face of Jean Grey, the girlfriend of Scott Summers.

"Speak of the devil." Kitty Pryde said, motioning to the now open exit. There, leaning against the wall, was Logan, the man known as Wolverine.

"How was that, Logan?" Bobby Drake asked enthusiastically as he left. "We sure rocked this time, didn't we?"

"Yeah, Drake, whatever." Logan said dryly, not even paying Bobby a glance. He and Jean exchanged a smile when she left, much to the chagrin of Scott, who stopped to frown at Logan.

"It looks like now that Jean's back you've got your edge back." Logan said. "I'd think you never stopped barking orders."

Scott smiled. "I'd be lying if I said that didn't feel great."

"So how would you feel if you had the team back?"

"What?"

"The role as leader. We did what the Professor wanted. We saved the world. I never wanted this gig in the first place."

"Wow, Logan. I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know? You were born to lead the X-Men!"

"You saw how I was, just because Jean was missing. What if that happens again? I put my pain, and Jean, ahead of the team, ahead of stopping the war. I can't trust myself as a leader just yet."

"I see. Well, bub, you better start learning to trust yourself again soon. Cause I'll go crazy having responsibility for all of you soon."

'_Logan.'_

Both X-Men turned around at the sound of the voice.

"Chuck?"

'_Logan.'_

"Does he want to congratulate you again?" Scott asked.

"Dunno."

They walked to the infirmary, where the Charles Xavier of their time lay comatose.

"We're here, Chuck. What is it?"

The room turned completely white as they were transported into an astral realm where Xavier could communicate with them from the future.

"I have urgent news." Xavier said, appearing before them.

"What is it now? I thought we stopped the war." Logan said. "And the Phoenix."

"You did. That future has been averted. But another war will soon brew, one that has consumed this future as well."

Xavier allowed images from his mind to flood the astral plane. Destroyed cities, refugee camps filled to bursting with desperate people. Mutants blasting each other to atoms.

"What is this Charles?"

"The future, as created by Apocalypse."

Logan and Scott looked at each other in confusion. "Apocalypse?"

The images of catastrophe faded away, leaving in their place the form of a massive mutant-blue and grey, with a body seemingly made of armor.

"Apocalypse. He claims to be the first and most powerful mutant. It turns out that Mister Sinister has been working for him the entire time, building a mutant army for Apocalypse form the ground up."

"That's what he needed all that mutant DNA for." Logan said.

"Yes."

"My god!" Scott exclaimed.

"What is it, Scott?" Xavier asked.

"Sinister still has the genetic material he took from myself and Jean! He said that with it he would create the most powerful mutant in history!"

"I have not heard anything about that yet, Scott, and information is much easier to come by than it had been in the other future. It may be that that scheme never came to fruition."

"How long do we have, Charles?" Wolverine asked.

"A little under a year. Then Apocalypse and Sinister will strike, seeking to create a world that conforms to the laws of survival of the fittest. They will attempt to wipe out humanity and all mutants who aren't strong enough. They will conquer the western hemisphere in a matter of months, then begin carving their way into Europe, Asia, and Africa. There are very few free pockets left on Earth."

"We'll stop him, Charles. Just like we stopped Magneto."

"Magneto has been fighting against Apocalypse the entire time. Even he is not able to accomplish much."

Scott and Logan shared another look, one of shock and apprehension.

"This Apocalypse is for real." Scott said.

"However, given your past success I would like Logan to continue to lead the X-Men until this crisis has passed."

"Cyke's already passed the buck to me, right Cyke?….Summers?"

Scott was frozen, his mind temporarily stopped by Xavier.

"There's another reason you want me to lead, isn't there."

"Yes. At some point Sinister will turn Scott the way he turned Warren. They still serve Sinister to this day."

"And the X-Men won't be able to deal with their leader joining the enemy."

"Exactly."

"I'll keep an eye on him."

"I know. Thank you."

Xavier freed Scott from his control.

"The first step you must undertake, Logan, is to bring Colossus back to the X-Men."

"Peter?" Scott asked.

"We tried bringing him back, Chuck. He refused to leave his family again."

"It is his family I want."

For the third time, Logan and Scott looked at each other.

"For nearly fifteen years there was a nation in what is now Russia that Apocalypse was afraid to attack. It was ruled by two mutants. Colossus, and his sister."

"Sister?"

"Magneto himself served under them."

"Hard to believe he'd stoop to working for Peter of all people, Chuck."

"Which is why I believe that his sister is the key."

"We'll get them professor." Scott said.

"Thank you. Thank you both. I will contact you again when I have more information."

Xavier disappeared, and the white room was replaced once again by a room filled with technology and metal.

"Get Jean and Hank to Cerebro." Logan commanded./

"Peter's parents say that he doesn't live their anymore." the blue, furry mutant known as Beast said.

"What about their daughter?" Logan asked.

"They say they don't have a daughter."

"Well that's a big help." Scott quipped.

"Looks like having Jean use Cerebro is our only option." Logan said.

"I said no." Scott said suddenly. "It's too soon to push Jean's powers like that. We still don't know what she can still do after losing the phoenix force."

"Scott," Jean complained, "I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself. Besides, the world's at stake here."

"This is why you didn't want to be the leader, remember?" Logan observed.

"Yes." Scott said, beginning to sulk.

"Good. Go find, Peter, Jean."

Jean slowly sat down in the chair that had previously been occupied by Charles Xavier and Emma Frost. Slowly again, as if in awe of the significance of what she was doing, using the device custom built to amplify the professor's powers, she put on the Cerebro helmet.

"I've found Peter." she said after a few minutes. "He's still in Russia, but twenty miles from his home. It's a forest there."

"His parents apparently say it's not his home now. Do you see any other mutants near him?"

Jean closed her eyes and concentrated. "No. Not for miles around."

"So his sister isn't there." Scott said. "Maybe the professor got his information wrong. His parents say the have no daughter. It could have been his wife instead.

"We'll pick him up." Logan said. "And then we'll ask him."/

"I don't see a place to land." Beast said.

"We'll have to put the plane on autopilot." Wolverine said. "Have it circle until we're done."

"How long will that take?" Forge, the X-Men's resident mechanic, asked. "If you're going to keep the engine going for too long we won't have enough fuel to make it back to the East Coast."

"Tell you what. You stay on board, and if we run low on fuel you go back, pick up some gas, and come back and get us."

"No, that's ok. We should manage for a while yet."

"That wasn't a suggestion." Wolverine growled.

The X-Men, sans Forge, leapt out of the black bird and landed in the forest.

"This way." Jean said. "Not far at all."

She led them through the trees for a short while, until they heard a continuous, regular thumping sound.

"Someone chopping wood." Wolverine said.

The followed the noise until they came to a small clearing. A small log cabin stood there, outside of which a man who would have deserved the name Colossus even without his powers stood chopping wood with an axe. He looked the part of a farmer in his white shirt and blue overalls, albeit a six and a half foot farmer.

"Peter!" Kitty called out upon seeing him. Peter lowered his axe and turned around at the sound of the familiar voice. Kitty ran forward and hugged him.

"Kitty. What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you, bub." Wolverine said, coming into view along with the rest of the X-Men. Most of the X-Men were pleased to see Peter again, though Iceman pouted at him after the hug from Kitty.

"I told Hank, Logan, I am not coming back."

"You told Hank you weren't going to leave your family again. I don't see any family around here."

"Please leave."

"We can't do that. We've got a problem and could really use your help. The professor-"

"You can tell the professor that I don't care! I should have been here in Russia, protecting the people I care for! Thanks to him I wasn't here when I was needed the most!"

Peter took a deep breath, calming down. "I am glad to here that he has been found and is well, however."

"That's part of it, Pete. He's not well. Come back and we'll explain it all on the way."

Peter turned back to his house, which now seemed to small for a man his size. "I am sorry, Logan, but I cannot help you."

Logan hmphed and turned to leave as well, then stopped, turning and sniffing.

"Who else is here with you?"

There was a thud inside the house. Peter stopped, as did the X-Men. Out of the front door stepped a girl. She was blonde, about fifteen years old, and about a foot shorter than Peter. She wore a simple t-shirt and pants.

"Are these guests here for dinner?" she asked in Russian.

"No. They are leaving." Peter said. In English so everyone could hear him.

"Without first introducing us?" Wolverine asked.

Peter sighed. "This is my sister, Illyana."

"And I assume you are the X-Men." Illyana said in English, in an accent that was not Russian like her brother's. None of the X-Men could place it.

"Oh!"

Marvel Girl collapsed, or would have if Cyclops didn't catch her first. They had stayed behind in the woods so that Jean would be free to mind scan the vicinity.

"Are you all right, Jean?"

"Yes. I can't read her, Scott. It's like there's a wall around her mind. When I tried to push at it, it pushed back."

"Whoever is still in the woods should just come out." Illyana said. Marvel Girl and Cyclops came out to meet the entire group.

"Why are you here?" Illyana asked, stepping out to be next to Peter.

"We'd like you and your brother to come back with us." Wolverine said. "To join the X-Men."

"You dare?" Peter screamed. "After what happened to her you dare to ask us-"

Illyana put her hand on her brother's shoulder. He looked at her and was silent. "You'll have to forgive my brother. He is very overprotective of me. But I agree with him. Neither of us has a desire to join your fight for mutants."

"We've got information from the future that bad things are about to happen and that _you _are the key to stopping it."

Illyana walked up to Wolverine and looked him straight in the eye.

"You want mutants to be equal to everyone else. To not be feared and hated. I already know that I will be feared and hated by mutants the same way you are feared and hated by the rest of the world. My parents were fine with having a mutant son, but me? They disowned me and threw me out. I already see the same look in her eyes I saw in their's." She motioned at Jean, who was looking at her with a mixture of fear and suspicion.

"So, Mr. Logan, is it? I have no interest in helping people who will hate me, and my brother has no interest in leaving me alone."

She walked back into the cabin, followed by Peter, who gave them all glares.

"Stay here." Wolverine said to the group. He followed them into the cabin.

"What did we tell you?" was the angry response he received when he opened the door.

But Wolverine's attention was turned to the dinner that was placed on the table. An adult deer.

"Did you catch this with your bare hands?" he asked, examining it.

"Yes." Illyana answered, starting a fire. "Peter does the building around here and I prepare the food."

"Wouldn't something like a rabbit be easier?"

"They don't last very long. A deer can hold us for days."

"You are welcome to eat with us, Logan." Peter said. "But we will still not go with you, and I am not certain there will be enough for all of you."

"That's tempting, but I've got one last thing to say, and I'll leave you alone after I've said it.

"We are literally facing the end of the world. Illyana, if you're anything like your brother at all, then it's in your nature to help people. Eventually the two of you will remember that. I've had word from the future, so I know that much. The question is, will it be too late?"

Peter turned to Illyana, who looked at him out of the corner of her eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

"So just what happened that you two are living out in the woods and not with your parents?" Wolverine asked.

"It's a long story." Illyana answered.

"We've got time."

Illyana looked out of the window of the blackbird, staring at the forest below. "It'll take that long to get there?"

"Yup."

She sat back in her seat. "This thing is slower than I thought."

"Hey!" Forge said. "This plane is among the fastest in the world! There _is _no way to get back to America faster!"

Illyana turned to him. "Oh, really?" she asked dryly.

A blinding light filled the cockpit and the windows, forcing the X-Men to shield their eyes.

Beast opened his eyes first.

"Oh my stars and garters."

"Is this fast enough for you?" Illyana asked.

Wolverine gaped at the skyline in front of them. "That's _New York."_

"I don't know where your base is, but everyone's seen pictures of the city."

"You teleported the _whole plane _half a world away?"

"How about a little warning next time." Cyclops said irritably. He and Jean both glared at her.

"Summers is right about that." Wolverine said as he readjusted their course towards Salem. "If we weren't still so high up that could have been dangerous. Still, I think you just put Kurt out of a job."

"I think my power is still useful in a fight." Nightcrawler said. "And I can do other things. It's Forge who's obsolete. What would we need the blackbird for anymore?"

"Hey!" Forge protested again.

"What're you complaining about, Forge?" Wolverine teased. "Do you know how much fuel we just saved?"

"I'm curious, Illyana," Beast asked, "why your parents would care so much about you being able to teleport when they don't mind Peter being able to knock down walls?"

Illyana looked at her brother sitting next to her, who said "We'll talk about it after we land." He leaned close to her and whispered in Russian "If we're going to do this you can't keep pushing off telling them."

"I know."

"I'll be there with you. There's no need to be scared. These are my friends, and I trust them."

"We both trusted Mama and Papa."

Kitty leaned forward to talk to Iceman. "Hey, Bobby." she whispered.

"Yeah."

"Do you remember when Peter told us about his family? He said his sister was practically a baby."

"No. How do you remember stuff like that? Heck, how do you remember anything that guy says? I can't understand him at all."

Kitty punched him on the shoulder. "That's because you're a dimwit."

Meanwhile, Jean was holding her fingers to her temple.

"She finally used her powers, and I _still _felt nothing."

"Is it that much of a problem, Jean?" Cyclops asked. "Do you think your powers aren't what they should be?"

"No. Her resistance to telepathy; it reminds me too much of Warren's after Sinister got to him."

Cyclops' jaw clenched, and they both returned to staring at Illyana as she talked with her brother in Russian.

"That's not a problem you've had much before, is it?"

"No."/

They landed in the hangar and entered the mansion. Logan led the way to the kitchen.

"You've done a good job rebuilding the mansion." Peter said. "It looks almost exactly like it used to."

"Warren paid for the whole thing." Logan said, a note of bitterness in his voice.

"Where is Warren? I would have thought he would be with you."

"He's with Sinister. He's been brainwashed."

"Sinister. One of the men you say will bring about the end of the world."

"Yup."

They sat down in the kitchen. Kitty poured most of them milk while Logan opened a can of beer with one of his claws.

"Alright kid. We're all here. Now I want to know what's so special about you."

Illyana wiped the milk mustache from her face. "My teleportation power manifested when I was very young, about six." she said in a strangely matter-of-fact manner.

"The problem was that whenever I teleport I pass through another dimension. Every time I did so I attracted the attention of the ruler of that dimension. One time he seized me in mid-port and stopped me from returning."

"And I was not there to help her because I was here!" Peter interjected angrily.

"I'm still not sure how you could have helped, Piotr. He was a sorcerer, the ruler of that dimension, and he used his magics to take away my ability to teleport so that I'd be trapped there.

"He made me his apprentice, and over the course of many years I learned magic from him.

"Eventually I thought I knew enough and was strong enough to fight him, and I rebelled and banished him from that dimension. Without his spells restricting me I was able to return home."

"Nice story," Logan said, "but Peter wasn't here long enough for it to hold up."

"How dare you-" Peter began, but Illyana cut him off.

"Time moves differently in that dimension. What was years for me was only a couple of days on Earth.

"As much as our parents were willing to accept mutants, they were not willing to accept that their daughter was a witch. They rejected me and threw me out, but Piotr stayed with me."

"So you're six years old?" Kitty asked softly.

"From my point of view I'm a teenager, but on Earth I was born six, seven years ago?" She looked at Peter for confirmation.

"So what's so special about you is that you're a witch." Logan said.

"Yes."

"Hmm. I think that's enough. Let's see if we can talk to Xavier and tell him you're here. Maybe he's come up with a plan of stopping Apocalypse."

He left with Illyana and Peter.

"An actual alternate dimension." Hank said with awe. "The possibilities…"

"Am I the only one who thinks it's weird that we've got a witch here now?" Bobby complained.

"I think the term sorceress is more appropriate, young man." Hank said.

"And what's weirder about being that than being a mutant?" Kitty asked.

"I wonder what a sorceress can do." Kurt said.

Jean slammed her milk glass on the table and left.

"Jean!" Scott yelled, running after her.

"Jean, what is it?" he asked when he caught up with her.

"I don't like the fact that she's here. All I learned from that story is that she's hiding a lot."/

"Here he is." Logan said, showing them the comatose body of Charles Xavier.

"Professor." Peter said.

"At least we know he'll pull out of it." Logan said. "Hey, Chuck!"

The room turned white, and they found themselves standing in front of Xavier.

"I've got good news, Chuck."

"I can see that Logan. You've done well. And Peter, it is good to see you again."

"It is good to see you too, professor, and walking, no less."

"One of the benefits of the future, my friend. The technology is designed to keep people with broken legs able to fight.

"Where is your sister? I was looking forward to meeting her too."

"What are you-" Logan and Peter looked around to find no one around them. "She was right next to us!"

"I do not sense her in the vicinity. Go and bring her back here."

"We'll find her, Chuck. I don't believe this."

The whiteness dissolved into the infirmary again, and Illyana was once again standing next to them, her arms crossed.

"Where were you?"

"Right here. The two of you froze up and I couldn't get you to respond."

"We were talking to the professor. How come you weren't part of the conversation."

Illyana shrugged. "I guess I'll have to ask him." A circle of light appeared around her head and lowered itself down her body. Every part of her it passed over disappeared until there was nothing of her left.

"Hey, where'd she go now?" Logan demanded.

"To talk to the professor face to face." Peter answered./

_20 Years Later._

The light disk shocked Xavier and Bishop, as did the appearance of the girl when it had faded.

"Who are you?" Bishop yelled, charging energy in his arms at her.

"Illyana Rasputin. And I assume you are Charles Xavier."

"Yes. So you are the sister of Colossus." Xavier said as Bishop lowered his arms.

"Yes. We seem to be having difficulty communicating, so I thought I'd come here."

"You're a time traveler."

"Among other things."

Xavier attempted to probe her mind, and found himself rebuffed. "You've got some powerful mental shielding. I can't access your mind at all. It's no wonder I couldn't bring you onto the astral plane."

"Hmph. Good to know. Wolverine's told us a bit about this Apocalypse you say is coming, but this seems like a good time to give everything you know."/

Far away, an armored figure watched the two mutants from different times talk on a screen.

"Not this time, Rasputin. You had your chance. Now it's my turn."

He turned away in a huff and walked through the complex he had built. There were many places one could hide, and the person he needed could conceal himself even from him.

But the man he sought had no desire to hide from him, and when he learned he was sought for he sought the master of the facility himself.

"Ah. Magneto." the master said when they met. "I have an errand for you."

"I don't do errands." the former monarch said forcefully.

"I think you'll want to do this one. You see, I've found an old friend of yours, and I'd like you to bring him into the fold."/

_The Present_

"So now you can time-travel too! Why don't you just tell us all the stuff you can do?"

"That would take more time than we have." Illyana said. "Xavier wants to talk to you again.

"Right. Chuck! We're still here."

The whiteness overtook them again.

"As I thought," Xavier said, "she'll be a most valuable ally."

"If she doesn't turn out to be such a loose cannon." Wolverine muttered.

Xavier smiled. "You're hardly one to talk, Logan. Listen, as I told Illyana, an event is about to occur that could influence the coming war. On August eighteenth Angel will raid Warrington Labs. The formula for the mutant cure still exists, and he will steal it. Sinister will use it in his plans to make more powerful mutants and will weaponize it for use against mutants who would oppose him and Apocalypse."

"We'll stop him, Charles."

"Good luck Logan. And to you, Peter."

"Da, professor."

They returned to the infirmary.

"Get the X-Men." Logan said. "We've got work to do."/

_20 Years Later_

Xavier and Bishop sat.

"There's nothing to do but try to find more information for them, is there?" Bishop asked.

"I'm afraid not."

"I preferred the other future. There we fought, to help them in addition to trying to defeat the sentinels in our time."

"You were the resistance there. Here the resistance has already crumbled."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that, Charles."

Xavier and Bishop both stood up.

"I know that voice." Xavier said.

"Indeed you do."

Lowering from the sky, clad in a grey robe and helmet, was the master of magnetism itself.

"Erik!"

Magneto landed right in front of Xavier. "It's good to see you again Charles. You look good for a man who hasn't been seen in decades."

"And you look good for a man your age. I thought you had been killed when Russia fell."

"It was close, Charles. That was definitely our darkest hour."

The two former rivals embraced in an emotional hug, much to the chagrin of Bishop.

"Professor! Don't you know who this is?"

"I do indeed. A man who will fight Apocalypse until his dying breath."

"That is why I am here Charles. You were wrong to say that there is no more resistance. It is reconstituting, and our new leader has sent me here to ask you to join our cause."

"We will be glad to, Erik. Who is this leader? He must be an impressive individual if you are willing to follow him."

"He is." Magneto said. "His name is Stryfe."


	3. Chapter 3

"And this is the swimming pool." Kitty said.

"Another one?" Illyana asked.

"We can't swim outside in the winter. It's way too cold. So we need an indoor one to be climate controlled."

"It still seems excessive, having an Olympic size underground swimming pool."

"He he." Kitty chuckled. "It wasn't that way before. I made Warren enlarge it when he had the mansion rebuilt."

"The same guy that's supposed to steal the mutant cure."

"Yeah."

For once Kitty shut up as they continued the walking tour of the X-Men's base of operations.

"He was your friend."

The manner-of-fact manner in which Illyana usually spoke really perturbed Kitty at times.

"We weren't that close. Logan and the professor were the only adults I was really close to. But he was a valued teammate, and I don't want to fight him. Not when it's not his fault."

"Are you prepared to do everything that needs to be done?"

There was a change in Illyana's voice, one so subtle that Kitty almost missed it. It was slightly higher and was slowed a little. Kitty narrowed her eyes at how the question caused the slightest of cracks in Illyana's Vulcan-like demeanor.

"We faced the same question with Jean just a few weeks ago. We all agreed to do what was necessary, but thankfully it didn't come to that. Hopefully it won't again."

"Yes. Hope for the best." Again her voice changed, growing softer. "This must be important."

They had come to a door made of thick metal, clearly meant for only authorized access.

"That's the cerebro room." Kitty said. "This is how we found you and Peter. Any telepath can use cerebro to locate any mutant."

"Except Angel, and myself."

"Well, nothing's perfect. And over there is the danger room, where we train."/

Scott and Logan were arguing in the latter's room.

"I can't believe you're allowing her to go with us when she hasn't even had a single danger room session yet!"

"You got a problem with the kid, Summers?" Logan asked.

"Yes! We still don't know much about her, she's already gone off and done her own thing more than once, and we haven't even fought with her once!"

"And Jean doesn't trust her." Logan observed.

"Jean agrees with me, yes."

"No. I mean you agree with Jean."

Scott stared at Logan.

"I don't understand."

"You're agreeing with Jean cause she's your perfect woman. Both of you have good points, but what really upsets Jean is that she can't read Illyana's mind. After waking up with no memory to have Warren attack her while immune to her powers will do that to her.

"The way I see it it's like it was with Emma. We need her. The professor says so. Her trustworthiness has to take a back seat to that just like Emma's took a backseat to us needing someone who could use cerebro. And we came to her. Not the other way around."

There was a knock on Logan's door. "Come in!" he barked.

Peter entered the room, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"Excuse me, but do you know if the mansion still has any bathing suits in my size?"

"Wha?" was the response from both the former and current leaders of the X-Men.

"Kitty decided to go swimming and she made me, Bobby, and Illyana go with her."/

"Is this really necessary, Kitty?" Illyana asked as Kitty threw clothes from her dressers into a bigger and bigger pile.

"I'm sure one of my old bathing suits will fit you."

"Why do you have so many clothes?"

"Because I like to shop! You should try it. It's fun."

"Fun, huh." Illyana approached Kitty's dresser and picked up an object on it.

"Yes. I'm going to have to teach you how to have fun. Aha! This one's got to fit! What do you think, Illyana?"

But Illyana paid no attention to the blue swimsuit Kitty held up. Her attention was on the

stuffed bear in her hands.

Kitty looked back and forth between Illyana and the toy.

"Do you want it?"

Illyana's head jerked back to attention. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Do you want that bear? You can have it."

Illyana looked back at the bear. "Thanks"/

"No one can beat the water king!" Bobby shouted, slapping the water at Kitty with all his might.

"Ice-king maybe, not water king!" Kitty fazed through the water as it splashed down on her and responded in kind to Bobby.

"Hey! There's a no powers rule in the pool! Would it be fair if I did this?" Bobby pushed his palms out of the water, and the resulting spray turned to snow as it fell on Kitty, who felt the cold even while phasing.

"N-no. Not fair."

Kitty looked across the pool where Illyana and Peter were wading around.

"Are we having fun yet?" Illyana asked.

"It depends on what you put into the swimming. Try swimming in laps or diving."

"Or a cannonball!"

Kitty had climbed out of the pool and jumped back in near Peter and Illyana. The resulting splash hit Peter full-on, causing the bangs of his drenched hair to fall over his right eye.

"Katyaaa." he complained, but stopped when he saw his sister.

Illyana was holding her hands over her mouth, but their was a small glint in her eyes that was not there before.

"The stone face actually smiles!" Kitty exclaimed. "We'll make a kid out of you yet!"

"Hopefully not as much a kid as you are." Peter splashed Kitty from the side, his massive arms moving so much water that she was knocked over.

"This means war!" Kitty yelled when she resurfaced, only to be hit from behind by a splash from Illyana.

"This _is _fun."

The Rasputins continued to pummel Kitty, who screamed "Bobby! Some help please?"

But Bobby had already gotten out of the pool. "Sorry. I've had my fill for tonight." He left the laughing trio to their water fight./

_20 Years Later_

Even though their vehicle was faster than anything the X-Men had seen in the past, the journey Magneto took Xavier and Bishop on was a long one, for it was across continents.

"I was a little worried the cloak wouldn't hold." Magneto told them from the pilot's seat. "It's not all that reliable, and without it something of Apocalypse's will find us and tear us apart."

"Thank you, Erik." Xavier said. "That's very reassuring."

"Just giving you a sense of how bad things are."

"You know, Magneto," Bishop said, "of all the people to oppose Apocalypse, I'd have thought you were the least likely. Wasn't mutant supremacy your idea?"

Magneto breathed deeply.

"Erik?"

"Genosha was my idea. I wanted to spread it, to supplant human culture with a superior mutant one, but to Apocalypse that would never be enough. He wanted to wipe out the weak mutants with the humans. I could never let him decimate my people so. When he destroyed Genosha, along with my children, he made me an enemy for life."

"I'm sorry, Erik."

"It's the past. I'll get my vengeance eventually."

Xavier considered his old friend. Magneto still had the rage that often blinded him to reason, and yet he was subservient to another.

"What more can you tell us about Stryfe?"

"He was an experiment of Sinister's. That mad scientist got a hold of genetic material from Scott Summers and Jean Grey and used it to create him, Nathan Summers. He was supposed to be the ultimate mutant, and he is pretty close to being it. Only Illyana Rasputin was ever able to control him.

"She found him, in a raid on one of Sinisters top genetic labs. He was just a child then, but when she brought him back to Russia it was clear he was more powerful than any of us could have imagined."

"So Illyana raised him?"

"No. I don't know what she tried to do, but he wouldn't let anyone take care of him. He was always very independent minded and practically raised himself. He was a real troublemaker as a youth. Illyana's policy of restraint always infuriated him. He hates Apocalypse and Sinister more than I hated the Third Reich."

"Why did Illyana have a policy of restraint?"

"We never knew. Apocalypse's armies were marching across the Earth, but when they got to Russia they were repelled by an even larger army of demons, led by Illyana. The resistance all rallied to her side as she her demons, and Colossus pushed Apocalypse farther and farther back."

"Demons?" Xavier asked. "From where?"

"From Limbo. The dimension she gained her powers in. It's a demonic place, and she was its ruler."

"Why didn't I know that?"

"Everything seemed to be going well until her raid on that lab of Sinister's. Stryfe wasn't the only weapon she found there. She found something else, something that terrified her so much she never launched another offensive."

"What?"

"She never told us. Stryfe says he knows what it is and that he is not as concerned about it, but he too doesn't say just what was there."

"I'm afraid this Nathan Summers sounds a little foolhardy."

"He is more brash than I would like, but he is a capable leader and strategist. We thought Russia would always be safe as long as there was an unlimited supply of demons to defend us, but Sinister eventually found a way to cut off Illyana's connection to Limbo and attacked en masse. We were overrun and both of the Rasputins were killed. After that most of us that are left agree with Stryfe, that what we need is action."

"There is another way, Erik."

Magneto laughed. "You're communicating with the X-Men in the past again? Trying to change this reality too?"

"Yes. I've already gotten Illyana and her brother to join the X-Men before Apocalypse began his war."

Magneto nodded, impressed. "She first got involved fairly late. Having her from the start would have been a major asset. Maybe Genosha would not have fallen."/

Magneto piloted the craft into a large cave, the entrance of which closed behind them. "There he is."

Stryfe was waiting for them. A huge man, about the size of Colossus, dressed from head to toe in bright silver armor. Only the lower half of his face and his eyes were uncovered by metal.

"Greetings, Charles Xavier!" he said enthusiastically. "We're thrilled to have such a legend with us today!"

Xavier shook Stryfe's hand and examined the features of his face closely.

"You have your father's chin, Nathan, and your mother's eyes."

Stryfe lifted the helmet of his armor off of his head. "Not quite." One of his eyes glowed brightly, obscuring both the iris and the pupil.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Don't be." The smile never faded from Stryfe's face as he replaced his helmet, hiding the glow of his eye again. "I'm proud to call Jean Grey and Scott Summers my parents, even though I never met them. Their exploits are my inspiration."

"Yes." Xavier agreed. "They do inspire."

"I hope you'll do that too, Charles. Can I call you Charles?"

"Sure, Nathan."

"Good. Like I said, I hope your presence will be inspiring to my forces in and of itself, but that's not all I hope to gain from you."

"What do you need?"

"You still have the cerebro device, right?"

"Yes."

"Very good. We don't have anything like it. We can use it to find mutants who haven't fallen around the world and bring them here, maybe even to get a better idea of what the enemy is up to. I think you should be the one to do that since you know the device better than anyone."

"I will be glad to be of assistance, Nathan."

"Excellent. Magneto, please see to it that these men have everything they need until we arrange proper quarters for them."

Magneto stared after Stryfe as he walked away.

"Is something wrong, Erik?"

"I'm not sure. Stryfe usually _hates _being called Nathan."/

_The Present_

Peter opened the door to his sister's room to see if he was sleeping soundly. To his surprise, she was, and holding a teddy bear tightly.

He smiled as he closed the door. "Pleasant dreams, little snowflake."/

_Illyana hid the furry thing just before he entered her room._

"_I'm very disappointed in you, Illyana Rasputin." Belasco said angrily as Illyana cowered in her bed. He extended his hand, and into it flew the bear Illyana had made. "Very disappointed indeed._

"_You struggle with the transfiguration I had you practice, and yet you are able to conjure a stuffed toy here in your room?"_

"_I'm sorry, master."_

"_After a year I'd have expected you to have left the need for such trivialities behind._

"_I know, master."_

_Belasco seized the chain around her neck violently, making the small girl shriek._

"_Do you see this?" he asked menacingly, opening her medallion to reveal its bloodstone. "Anyone with a bloodstone is not a child or a girl! Therefore, they do not play with toys or dolls!"_

"_Y-yes, master! Please!"_

"_Furthermore, that you can conjure such an item tells me that your struggles with the magic I assign you is due to a lack of effort on your part."_

_There was loud thumping as a purple behemoth approached the door._

"_Please, no."_

"_Yes. S'ym will motivate you to try harder next time. As for this," he motioned at the bear, and it turned into an animated, demonic version of itself, complete with charcoal black fur, batlike ears, narrow red eyes, and a set of razor sharp teeth._

"_Enjoy your new pet."_

_He left, telling S'ym, "Make certain she never slacks off again. But remember, I still need her alive."_


	4. Chapter 4

The headquarters of Worthington Labs was a skyscraper that blended into the skyline of lower Manhattan, but the real work of the organization was done underground, in a large complex of laboratories. It was there that the mutant genome had been studied more extensively than anywhere else on Earth, save for one place.

Warren Worthington the second, the father of the X-Man Angel and former anti-mutant activist, sat at his desk high above his most brilliant scientists. It had been many months since he had last seen his son, and then he had been transformed from an angel into a monster.

A shadow fell upon the CEO of Worthington Labs, causing him to look up at the mutants who had saved him from his own son. There were more of them this time.

"This is about Warren, isn't it?" he asked.

The man who had attempted and failed to talk the newly christened Archangel from murdering his own father nodded. "He's coming here, today."

The elder Worthington sighed. "I knew this day would come. He'll never forgive me for what I did to him. Not until I'm dead."

"That's not what this is about. He's coming for the cure."

Warren regarded Wolverine carefully.

"The cure?"

"The mutant cure you developed."

"But I had all traces of it destroyed."

"But you didn't destroy the formula."

Warren stood up. He walked around his chair to stair out of the window overlooking the city.

"No. I didn't. So he wants to destroy the cure for good, by erasing all traces of the formula."

"No. He wants to _steal _it."

Warren spun around. "What? Why?"

"Mr. Worthington," said the African mutant, the one who had gotten through to Angel before Sinister re-exerted his control, "your son is not in control of his actions. His mind is controlled by another."

"And the man pulling his strings is very interested in what your cure can say about mutants." Wolverine finished.

Warren sat back down burying his forehead in his hands. "What will you do?"

"We're capture him." Wolverine said.

"We want to try to return him to normal." Storm interjected.

"Normal." the father of Archangel laughed bitterly. "Warren hated that word."

"We mean that we want to try to undo the brainwashing inflicted on him." the larger of the two, blue furry men said. "To make him normal for himself."

"Can you make him like he was before, with angel wings?"

Beast shook his head. "We don't know. The technology used to change him is far more advanced than anything we are capable of."

"Look," Wolverine said, "we don't know when Warren's coming, only that it's today. Can you delete all records of the formula?"

"No. It's in too many computers. Too many backup files. There isn't enough time."

"Then we'll have to prevent him from getting it by force."

Warren nodded, reaching for the phone by his desk. "I'll give the evacuation order immediately."/

The wait for the attack was intolerable.

"How're you doing?" Wolverine asked the clearly disturbed Storm.

"I've been worried for Warren ever since this began."

"I know. We all have."

"Logan," she looked him right in the eye with a gaze that had had frightened many an opponent off. "If any harm comes to Warren, I'm leaving, this time for good."

After they had prevented the war between humans and mutants and the Phoenix from devastating the world, Storm had returned to her people, where she ruled as queen. The X-Men had been able to recruit her again only because their old teammate was involved.

Wolverine nodded slowly. As a head of state, Storm had responsibilities far beyond the rest of the X-Men. He was therefore far more understanding of her when she left for Africa than he had been with Cyclops or Rogue when they went off to do their own things.

"We'll do what we have to. I know you will too."

Not far away Colossus was talking with the newest X-Man, now codenamed Magik. She wore a black cloak with a black hood and mask.

"Are you all right sister? I remember before my first battle-"

"Do not treat me like a child, Colossus. This is merely my first battle with the X-Men."/

_20 Years Later_

"I've found something."

Stryfe leaned over Xavier. "What? Is it Apocalypse?"

"No. It is a band of free mutants. Over a dozen of them, marching through the rainforest."

"Good." Stryfe nodded, but was unable to keep a note of disappointment from entering his voice. "Any mutants that have escaped Apocalypse's control this long must be resourceful. We'll pick them up."

Xavier took cerebro off. "Twenty years ago Sinister was able to engineer his servants to be immune to telepathy. I can track the rank and file, but not those of importance."

"Very well."

Xavier left. Magneto was waiting outside the door.

"I'll be able to use cerebro later, right Erik?"

"Yes. I can arrange it. So today is the day?"

"Yes. The X-Men's first battle in the fight against Apocalypse, and their opponent is one of their own."/

_The Present_

The building was surrounded by the police. Warren Worthington the second had called them.

And the X-Men were stationed at every entrance, Storm flying above. Worthington had enough connections to ensure that the mutants would not be arrested on sight.

The X-Men knew.

How they had known was beyond him, and it troubled him.

But science always had risks, and his science was worth more than any other./

"There!" Storm shouted.

The X-Men and the police stared at where she was pointing. Far away they could see a speck in the sky. It was getting bigger.

"He's here!" Wolverine yelled.

As Archangel entered her optimal range Storm's eyes glowed white, and a great wind issued forth her position. It hit Archangel with a force greater than that of a hurricane.

Onward he pressed, to no avail. Storm had stopped him in midair. He was forced to shield his face with his wings.

"This is our chance." Wolverine said on the ground. With most of their powers being effective primarily on the ground, Storm's winds being deadly for the teleporters, and Archangel's immunity to all of Marvel Girl's powers, Cyclops was their best option to knock their old teammate out of the sky.

But he was still so high up, and so very far away. It took Cyclops time to line up his shot. Time they did not have.

For Archangel had unleashed his talons upon Storm. The sharp pieces of metal flew through her wind with such ease that she was certain that they had their own propulsion. She barely avoided the talons as they tore her cape to ribbons, destroying the concentration she needed to maintain the winds that were holding Archangel at bay, and herself in the air.

Storm began to fall.

And now free, Archangel dive bombed the ground, gaining speed with every foot. The police opened fire, but no shot on Earth could hit a target moving so fast.

Barely a few feet from the ground he turned ninety degrees, straight at the X-Men and the glass door to the building behind them. His charge was little more than a blur, one that created a shockwave of air. It was all the X-Men could do to leap out of the way as he smashed the glass and entered the building.

Storm had regained control of her flight and was landing as the X-Men rose.

"I do not believe Warren ever flew that fast so close to the ground." Beast observed.

"He never flew that fast, period." Wolverine growled. "Let's move."/

His servant had to slow down considerably to navigate the narrow halls, especially with his giant wings, but he knew the blueprints of the building like the back of his hand. And the X-Men were left dumfounded outside. By the time they'd make it down to the basement Archangel would be making his escape.

Archangel quickly found the appropriate elevator and took it down. This was it. When the elevator doors opened he'd be at his destination. He could not help but draw breath in excitement as the elevator stopped at the bottom level. The things he could do with the cure for mutations….

"No! Impossible!" he screamed at the screen that showed him everything Archangel was seeing.

The X-Men were standing in front of Archangel. All of them.

'But how did they get there ahead of him?' he thought. Archangel had a huge head start and had taken the fastest possible route. The X-Men never passed him and Nightcrawler could not have teleported them all.

Cyclops raised his hand to his Visor to blast Archangel, but Storm pushed him as he fired, screaming "No!" The shot went wide, hitting the ceiling and causing it to cave in. He leaned in closer, afraid that the debris would smash the computers along with the X-Men.

But large circles of light appeared above them. The concrete and plaster fell into the circles and disappeared, leaving everyone and everything untouched.

It was then that he noticed her. The blonde girl with her arms raised high and her head looking up, causing her hood to fall off./

"He can take it!" Wolverine screamed. Storm did not respond. The falling ceiling had reawakened her claustrophobia and she was barely maintaining her composure.

Archangel fired his talons at the X-Men, but Magik caught them all with her light disks.

Cyclops then finally got his shot off properly, knocking Archangel back into the elevator.

Archangel shrugged off the impact and did the last thing any of the X-Men expected as he exited the elevator.

He spread his wings and took flight.

The X-Men all ducked for cover again as Archangel flew over them and out through the hole in the ceiling. Nightcrawler teleported after him, but Magik was unable to do so because Colossus had thrown himself over her to shield her and blocked her sight.

"I think we just saved the cure, guys." Shadowcat said.

"But what about Warren?" Stormed asked.

Nightcrawler teleported back in a puff of smoke.

"He escaped."/

"You called your winged devil off sooner than I would have expected, Essex. I thought this cure was important to you."

Mr. Sinister did not regard the taunting in his master's voice. Instead he smiled.

"My Archangel, as beautiful as he is, is at a disadvantage in an office building. However, I have accomplished much today, Apocalypse. Much indeed."/

"You did well, Logan." Xavier said.

"We couldn't stop Warren from escaping."

"Preventing the theft was your most important priority. Now Sinister will be without a powerful weapon."

"He won't get another chance. Hank is helping Warren's father in erasing all record of the formula."

"That is good. But be vigilant. You know how dangerous Sinister is, and Apocalypse eclipses even him."

"We will. By the way, Chuck, without Illyana we would have failed completely. We would have been stuck outside while he stole the formula."

"I am glad to hear it. Good luck, Logan."

"You too, professor."/

_20 Years Later_

Stryfe screamed as he punched the monitor screen that showed Xavier, Magneto, and Bishop with cerebro.

"No, Rasputin!"

Fuming, he took his seat.

At least with Xavier here he could keep track of what the X-Men were doing to alter the timeline. But what galled him the most was that it was _her_ doing the fighting in the past./

"_You nearly killed two people today, Nathan."_

_The boy was defiantly as he stared down the queen that was the dread of these lands. "They deserved it."_

"_Did the child you permanently implanted frightening images in the head of just this week deserve that too?"_

"_Why do you care? She's not even a mutant."_

_She gritted her teeth and hissed. It was an action that he knew was her way of cooling her temper._

"_I care because we have dangerous enough enemies beyond these borders. We do not need any of our own to cause so much internal Strife. And that is what you are doing. I am even under pressure to banish you and leave you at the mercy of Apocalypse."_

"_Do it. I'm sick of it here, and I'm sick of you, with your great plan of doing jack-$%. I'm strong enough to make a lot of trouble for Apocalypse and Sinister by myself."_

"_Yes. You are. And that is the problem."_

_There was something sad in her voice, and it frightened him more than her anger ever could have._

"_You, Nathan Summers,"_

"_Don't call me that!" He _HATED_ the name of the man who was now Sinister's stooge along with Archangel._

"_have become too arrogant because of your great power." She raised her arm at him and began chanting in a language he could not recognize._

"_What are you doing!" He could never read her mind. He raised both his arms to telekinetically attack her, but nothing happened._

"_You-you-you-"_

"_I do not take this action lightly, but you represent a threat to yourself and to others the likes of which no other person in Russia can equal, save for myself._

"_Do you know what you've done?"_

_Her eyes were so sad and filled not with pity, but empathy. It infuriated him even more that she thought of herself as similar to him. "All too well. You will regain your abilities when you demonstrate humility and prove that you will no longer use them to cause strife among us."_

"_I hate you."_

"_I know." As he stalked away she whispered to herself "I hate me too."_


	5. Chapter 5

_I apologize for not updating this, or any other story in a while. Suffice it to say that I have been busy, though that does not begin to describe it./_

"Xavier!"

The elderly telepath and Bishop were startled by the intrusion into their room.

"Nathan, what is wrong?"

"The name is Stryfe, Xavier. I am given to understand that you have been using the cerebro device for unauthorized purposes."

"I do not understand."

"You have been in contact with the past."

"So?" Bishop demanded.

"_So, _that is not a productive use of cerebro! The war with Apocalypse is in the here and now. There is nothing that can be done about the past."

"We know that is not true, Stryfe." Bishop said. "Through communication with the past we have already averted one future."

"Even if that were true, that would mean that your interference caused this reality!"

"Stryfe," Xavier said, "I understand how you feel, that it is a waste of time, but is it not best to use every means available to us to stop Apocalypse?"

"No." Stryfe said with a finality that belied his anger. "From now on you will only use cerebro for purposes I tell you, _when_ I tell you."

Stryfe turned and left, leaving Xavier and Bishop bewildered.

"Can you read his mind?" Bishop asked.

"No. He is too powerful a telepath for me to do so easily."

"Something is wrong with him. I worry about what we have gotten ourselves into."

"As do I. It seems that we must put more of our hopes on Logan and his team."/

_20 Years Prior_

For the first time in months the bell rang at the X-Men's mansion. Wolverine answered the door.

Standing there was Rogue.

"Oh. It's you."

"Hi to you too, Logan." There was a meekness to Rogue's voice. She and Wolverine had had trust issues ever since her temporary alliance with the Brotherhood. Those issues had led to Rogue leaving again after they had stopped the war between humans and mutants.

"What are you doing here?"

"I saw your fight with Warren on the news. If you're going after Sinister, I want in. I owe it to Warren."

Logan growled and turned around. "I want to slam the door in your face. But the truth is we can use all the help we can get. This is a hell of a lot bigger than Sinister."/

_20 Years Later_

"Magnus," Xavier asked, "how long have you known Stryfe?"

"Since he was a child. Why?"

"What would you say his mental state has been?"

Magneto laughed. "He was always a troublemaker. More arrogant than even me. But he's done fine. He's organized the resistance well enough, and that temper of his has been under control since he became a leader."

"That is what I am worried about. He restricted my use of cerebro to stop me from contacting Logan in the past."

"What!"

"Can you get me access to cerebro again when necessary?"

"Yes. The doors are metal and simple for me to open. And I'll talk to him, try to make him see reason."

"Good luck with that, my old friend. If his arrogance rivals yours, it will be a hard task indeed."/

_20 Years Prior_

Even while asleep, Illyana's senses were always attuned to the detection of attack. She reacted quickly and instinctively when she sensed a powerful presence enter her room. She shot up, her hand extending over the covers, blasting energy forth as ancient words rang from her lips.

A large man with white hair and a glowing eye was pinned to the wall by mystic chains of energy.

"Hmff! You pack a wallop in every era, don't you?"

"Who are you?"

"I go by what you called me. Stryfe."

Illyana clenched her hand into a fist and recited a counter-curse, dissolving the mystic chains. "I've heard of you. You lead the war in the future. How are you here?"

"Come now, Magik, I believe you go by now? Did you think you were the only time traveler? Although I admit I do not do so naturally. Science happens to be one of the many things I excel in."

"Why are you here?"

"To tell you to stop. You had your chance to destroy Apocalypse. Now it is mine. Besides," Stryfe smiled menacingly, "I already know you won't fight him or Sinister when it comes down to it."

Illyana kept her hand pointed at Stryfe. "You may be powerful, but right here, right now I'd beat you in seconds."

Stryfe laughed. "I _know_ you have the power, and more importantly the demon army, to destroy Apocalypse. But I also know that you won't. Because you are a coward."

"Why are you here?" Illyana asked again, this time with a much harsher tone in her voice.

"Come with me, Magik. Come with me tonight and I will prove to you what a coward you are."/

"So this is one Sinisters's facilities." Illyana said. The building they were looking at seemed at a glance like an unimpressive factory.

"Yes." Stryfe said. "A rather special one."

"Why. What's inside?"

"That's what I'm going to show you."

Illyana summoned another stepping disk to teleport them inside the front doors. Inside the surfaces were all metallic.

There were also laser guns with proximity sensors.

Illyana protected them with a pair of stepping disks to catch the lasers as Stryfe used his telekenisis to crush the guns.

"It would be a lot easier to just destroy the place." Illyana said as the walked over the wreckage.

'Attempt to do so and I will kill you.' Stryfe thought, but his mouth said "We're here to find something. Destroying this place would hinder that goal most effectively."

Illyana stopped in front of a door and waved her hand, casting a spell to open it. Inside were many vials containing variously colored liquids.

As Illyana stepped inside Stryfe grabbed her arm. "Not in there."

There was no time for Illyana to argue, as a pair of blasts flew over their heads. Two mutants had appeared in the hall to attack them. They fled inside the room.

"Damn it!" Stryfe said. "We can't let them damage anything in here!"

"Why?"

"_I'm_ in here!"

Illyana looked around at the vials and understood. Stryfe was being grown in that room.

The door exploded as the two mutants entered, continuing their blasts. They stopped, however, leery of destroying any of Sinister's experiments, and Illyana took the opportunity to teleport behind them. She grabbed their heads and smashed them together, knocking them both out.

"Impressive." Stryfe said. "Let's move on. It's not far from here."

They continued on until they reached a room full of cabinets. Stryfe searched them until he found a disk.

"Aha! This is it!"

"What is it?"

Stryfe handed her the disk. "Watch it, and you'll understand."/

_20 Years Later_

"I can't find Stryfe to ask him." Magneto said. "No one's knows where he is."

"Is that unusual?" Xavier asked.

"Not totally. It does happen from time to time, but it is rare. Anyways, lets go to cerebro. Nows the perfect time to use it."

Magneto led Xavier to the cerebro room, opening it with his magnetic powers. Xavier put the device on and activated it.

'Logan.'

Several minutes later he was answered. "What's up, Chuck?"

"I wanted to tell you that I may have some difficulty contacting you in the future. My use of cerebro may be limited."

"How come?"

"It appears that Stryfe does not like the idea of my communicating with the past. I am not certain as to why yet, but it is becoming a problem."

"That's too bad. Listen, Chuck, Rogue is back."

"Is she? I had not realized she had left the X-Men. How are things between you?"

"Not great. Heck, even the others don't trust so much anymore."

"Hm. You've got to try to get past that. And Jean and Scott have got to get past their mistrust of Illyana.

We can't have the team fracturing, or all will be lost."

"Easier said than done, Charles."

"All the same, try, Logan."/

_20 Years Earlier_

Logan yawned as the conversation with the professor ended. It was still early in the morning. He headed up through the mansion towards his bedroom. Along the way he heard a wretching sound coming from one of the bathrooms. He went inside.

Illyana was on her knees, vomiting into the toilet. She breathing was forced and loud, as if she was having a panic attack. She was crying uncontrollably.

"Illyana?"

"T-t-tape." she stammered before emitting a huge pile of vomit into the toilet.

Hesitating, Logan left, heading down to the living room. The television was on, and he pressed the rewind button on the DVD player.

When the video started playing he was greeted by the face of Mr. Sinister.

"This is Nathaniel Essex, recording of the project Red Flag.

"A century ago I went to Russia to investigate reports of a powerful mutant. I was not disappointed.

"Grigori Rasputin had tremendous powers, not the least of which was persuasion. But what interested me the most was that his mutant power seemed to channel forces that could only be described as supernatural.

"Rasputin was as insane as he was powerful, and was paranoid about any threats to his person. As such, I could not chance that his children would be mutants as well, yet I needed to see where his line would go. I arranged for him to mate with a woman who's children would carry the X-gene but not express it.

"I have been monitoring the descendants of Rasputin ever since, determined to bring a mutant with magical powers into the world. The possibilities of such a being are endless.

"It took a hundred years, but eventually another mutant was born to the Rasputin family. However, as powerful as Piotr is, he does not have any connection to the same mystical forces that Grigori had.

"But nearly twenty years later, when I had given up any hope of another magical mutant to use and study, the Rasputins had a second child. Preliminary investigation reveals that little Illyana may become far more powerful than her brother, and that she may indeed possess the mystical connection that had attracted me to her family in the first place.

"Project Red Flag has now assumed importance almost as great as Project Grey. While it is too early to tell just what Illyana's powers will be, I can predict that she will be a powerful tool when the time comes and look forward to studying magic from the point of view of science."


	6. Chapter 6

Hank poured a cup of hot chocolate while the X-Men sat Illyana down and covered her with a jacket. She still looked ill.

"Stryfe." Logan said. "The professor will be very interested to hear that. But even if he's not the angel he's cracked up to be, what was the point?"

"To prevent her from fighting Sinister." Jean said.

"I agree." Hank handed Illyana the drink. "It seems to me our friend from the future has an ego that won't let anyone else take the glory for defeating Apocalypse."

"Well," Logan said, "it isn't going to work, is it girl?"

Illyana did not even look at him.

"_Is it?_"

"Don't push her!" Piotr snapped. He was hovering over his sister.

"Peter's right." Hank said. "This is obviously very traumatic for her. We should take it slow. It's not like we're going after Sinister tomorrow."

Rogue nodded. "We're the X-Men. We've handled losing teammates before."

Logan sighed. "All right. She doesn't have to fight Sinister. It's a lot bigger than just him anyways."

"No."

The voice was soft, barely more than a whisper. All but Rogue turned to Illyana in surprise at the way her voice sounded.

"What?"

"No more fighting. I can't anymore."

There was a stunned silence. Finally, someone spoke.

"We're screwed, aren't we?" Bobby asked./

The gene room was the first place Nathaniel Essex inspected. Many important vials were destroyed-by his men, a mistake that would cost them dearly-but the one he most prized was safe.

The damage to his facility was not extensive. It would have to be moved, given that its location had been compromised, but that was a simple task.

The lack of damage disturbed him. From the descriptions one of the attackers was the new X-Man. He would have thought that they'd be more violent in their conflict with him.

It was the fact that the girl had been one of the attackers that made him check the log room. There he found a tape missing.

For the first time that night, Essex smiled.

He had had his doubts before when he saw her in the battle with his Archangel. He still had no explanation for why she should have aged so much, or what her powers were.

But it was now definitely her, and as dangerous as she may have been, he had plans in motion to take full advantage of the situation./

"Where the hell are you, Chuck?"

Logan had been in the infirmary for over an hour, trying to get in touch with Professor Xavier./

_20 Years Later_

A guard was blocking his way.

"I'm sorry, sir, but these orders come from Stryfe himself. You are not allowed to use cerebro at all."

"Did he tell you why?" Xavier asked. The guard was wearing a helmet that, like Magneto's, made him immune to telepathy.

"No, sir. I didn't ask."

Xavier turned away.

Why was Stryfe trying so hard to keep him from speaking to the X-Men?/

_20 Years Earlier_

Kitty knocked on the door. "Illyana?"

When there was no answer she pushed the door open. Illyana was sitting on her bed, holding her knees to her chest.

"How're you doing?"

"Go away."

Ignoring the order, Kitty walked into the room. She saw her old teddy bear lying on the floor and bent down to pick it up.

"Sinister's not your dad. You can blow him up with a clear conscience." She held the bear out to Illyana.

"You don't get it."

"What? What don't I get?"

Illyana gave Kitty a look that was more serious than any she had seen before.

"Belasco tried to make me into a weapon, and I thought I had rebelled." She grabbed the bear out of Kitty's hand. "_Now_ I find out that he was just sharpening me a certain way."

Illyana screamed, pulling the teddy bear in two. Kitty stepped back as the stuffing exploded at fell gently over the bed.

"**I've **_**always **_**been a weapon! A hundred years in the making! How the hell do I fight against that?" **

Kitty opened her mouth and closed it twice before she found her voice again.

"What-what do you want to do?"

Illyana's answer was eerily calm. "I want to die. To take away their weapon."

Kitty looked sadly at the remains of the stuffed bear.

"_Not a child or a girl."/_

_20 Years Later_

The guard froze in place and fell, his blood having stopped its flow to his brain.

Xavier stepped forward and bent down. He removed the guard's helmet and placed his hand over his forehead. The process of altering the guard's memories was not particularly difficult, as the man had no idea what had happened to him.

"Thank you, Erik."

"My pleasure." Magneto answered.

Now there was nothing between Xavier and cerebro. He put the device on and allowed his consciousness to perceive the past.

'Logan.'

Within a few minutes Logan had responded.

"Where the devil have you been, Chuck? I've been trying to get a hold of you for hours."

"I apologize. My access to cerebro has been cut off completely."

"Hmphh. I could tell you why."

"What has happened, Logan?"

"Did you know Stryfe had a flamin' time machine?"

There was silence for a long moment. "No. I had no idea such technology existed, even in this time."

"Well, I don't know whether or not he built it, but he sure as hell used it to come here and talk to Illyana."

Xavier grimaced and rubbed his forehead. "What did he do?"

"He showed some video Sinister made. One that shows that he's been messing with the Rasputins' family for a century. The girl's devastated. She says she doesn't want to use her powers anymore. At all. I tried the 'making a difference' speech again, but all it got me was a slap in the face from Kitty. She probably saved me from getting punched by Peter."

Xavier breathed out. "That must have been it."

"What?"

"In this time, Illyana discovered something about Sinister that frightened her so much she never took the offensive again. This must be what she found. And in your time she's younger, less mature. It must be effecting her even worse."

"So what do we do?"

"I don't know. Even as an adult this affected her for years. Stryfe may have taken her out of play for good."

"Speaking of which, you've clearly got to deal with him too."

"I will. Good luck, Logan. Now more than ever."

Xavier removed cerebro and turned to Magneto.

"He's completely mad, Erik. We've got to get out of here."


End file.
